Hellebore Events

Helleborus × hybridus seedling © Ms. Carmel Duignan

The first event associated with the Ranunculaceae Society was held in Angela Jupe's garden - Fancroft Millhouse Gardens, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary - on Saturday 28th February, 2004. It was an occasion dedicated to hellebores - one of the most charming members of the Ranunculaceae family. The distinguished speakers were Jane Sterndale-Bennett, former Chairman of the Hardy Plant Society and holder of a UK National Hellebore Collection and Richard Bramley, hellebore breeder and owner of Farmyard Nurseries in Wales.

We were blessed with one of those lovely, sunny days that February can surprise us with - a perfect time to see hellebores, to buy hellebores and to listen to experts speak about hellebores.

Jane Sterndale-Bennett spoke with great knowledge about the many different hellebore species and cultivars and she illustrated her talk with slides depicting the attributes of these remarkable plants - the beautiful, demure flowers, the arresting foliage of some species and the seductive charm of all of these winter flowering plants. She was forthright in expressing her love of the species and her alarm at the expressed intentions of breeders to produce upward-facing flowers. Mrs Sterndale-Bennett believes that these plants deliberately droop their flowers so that they can cope with the rain, the snow and all the other tribulations that come with winter weather.

Helleborus × hybridus seedling © Ms. Carmel Duignan

Richard Bramley was equally passionate about hellebores but he spoke from the perspective of a plantsman who not only loves the plants but has to make a living from selling them and who is therefore interested in producing plants that the public wants to buy - the doubles, the anemone-centred, the pure yellows and the plants with upward-facing flowers.

The next day, Sunday 29th February, Anna Nolan - a founder member of the Ranunculaceae Society - opened her garden in suburban Dublin to our members. This garden is a treasure trove of desirable plants, grown to perfection and arranged to complement each other and to paint pleasing pictures. It is an all-year-round garden with perhaps (as with all gardens) a peak in the summer months when exuberant growth and flower power are at their height. But, early spring is especially magical in this beautiful garden because it is hellebore time! On a sunny February day the low winter sun highlighted the many-coloured, sometimes demure, sometime flamboyant, flowers of these wonderful plants as they mingled happily with snowdrops, snowflakes, crocuses and daffodils.

Anna grows a wide range of hellebores - from small, green-flowered species to the various hues, colours and forms of Helleborus × hybridus - the doubles, the anemone-centred, the heavily spotted and the plain, beautiful whites and yellows.

The large attendance was very appreciative.

Helleborus × hybridus seedling © Ms. Carmel Duignan